America

The North America oilfield services market “eroded more than we thought” in 3Q2012, and the spending decline may not turn around before next year, according to the research team at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH).

The board of directors of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) elected as chairman C. Gregory Harper, who is senior vice president and group president of CenterPoint Energy’s Pipelines and Field Services businesses. Harper follows Spectra Energy CEO Gregory L. Ebel as INGAA chairman. The board also elected Gary L. Sypolt, CEO of Dominion Resources’ Dominion Energy operating segment, as first vice chairman, and David Devine, president of Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipe Line Co., as second vice chair. INGAA officers are elected for one-year terms.

Outgoing Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) Chairman Greg Ebel and the pipeline group’s members “worked tirelessly” to ensure that legislation signed into law by President Obama earlier this year would “truly take pipeline safety and integrity management to a higher level,” according to incoming Chairman Greg Harper.

Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America (NGPL) has kicked off an open season for space on its Sabine Henry Hub Project for deliveries to a proposed new delivery point to be located in Cameron Parish, LA — the site of an existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and proposed export facility.

Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Co. is paying $5.55 billion for deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil and gas properties it is acquiring from BP Exploration & Production Inc. and BP America Production Co. A separate deal with Shell Offshore Inc. in the GOM is worth another $560 million.

Cheniere Energy Partners LP’s Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC has struck agreements with Total Gas & Power North America Inc. whereby Sabine Liquefaction would progressively gain access to Total’s sendout capacity provided under its terminal use agreement (TUA) with Sabine Pass LNG LP.

Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Co. is paying $5.55 billion for deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil and gas properties it is acquiring from BP Exploration & Production Inc. and BP America Production Co. A separate deal with Shell Offshore Inc. in the GOM is worth another $560 million.

Houston midstream operator Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP on Friday agreed to pay BP America Production Co. $227.5 million in cash for the BP Panhandle System, which includes two natural gas processing plants and a 2,500-mile gas gathering pipeline system. Eagle Rock also would take over BP’s gas processing in the area under a 20-year agreement.

BP America Production Co. on Friday said it is selling the Sunray and Hemphill natural gas processing plants in the Texas Panhandle, together with their 2,500-mile associated gas gathering pipeline system, to Houston midstream operator Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP for $227.5 million in cash.